Behind Closed Doors
by lella7
Summary: Bellatrix discovers that Andromeda is keeping a secret, yet she has secrets of her own. Written for WeasleySeeker's One Line Competition 2 on the HPFC forum.


Behind Closed Doors

The locked door fascinated and puzzled her. Andromeda had never been one to keep secrets. True she liked peace and quiet, for reading and drawing and whatever other dull things she liked to do, but her bedroom door was usually flung open into the hall, an invite to her sisters to come in and provide her with company.

Bellatrix often kept her door tightly locked and charmed shut. Sometimes it was because she was trying out dangerous and often illegal curses, that she doubted her parents would approve of her practicing in the house, or more recently, because she had snuck her boyfriend, Rodolphus, up there. But most of the time, it was because she just didn't want anyone to know what she was doing, no matter how mundane it was.

If Andromeda's door was ever closed, however, it was because she wanted to avoid speaking to their parents, and unless they had had some big argument, she would always let her sisters come in anyway.

This weekend, though, their parents were away, at the wedding of some distant French cousin Bellatrix doubted they had ever met, and because Andromeda had her N.E.W.T.s in a little over a month and Bellatrix had just refused, Cygnus and Druella had gone, taking only Narcissa. That meant the rarely used bolt drawn across Andromeda's door was there purely to keep her, Bellatrix, out.

She fumed at the thought of her sister keeping things from her and was about to pound on the door and demand to know what Andromeda was doing, when she noticed some very intriguing things. Firstly, the door was not just locked, but a charm ran around the edges, magically sealing it to the doorframe, and secondly, an invisible barrier prevented her fingers from coming into contact with the door, halting them just an inch away.

Bellatrix's curiosity piqued and her eyes widened as she ran her fingers up and down the edges of the doorframe. What could Andromeda be so desperate to keep hidden? What could her quiet, gentle sister possibly be hiding?

Bellatrix pulled out her wand and twirled it thoughtfully between her fingers. The door was firmly sealed shut and blasting it open would most likely bring down a lot of surrounding wall, but Andromeda was very good at magically repairing and tidying things, something Bellatrix had never put much effort into learning, so she was sure it would be put right long before their parents returned. The Imperturbable Charm, however, was very weak and was unlikely to cause her much trouble. In fact, Bellatrix noted with disdain at her sister's poor spell casting, she could even hear the murmur of voices through the weak charm.

Voices, plural.

She couldn't make out words, but she recognised the low, gentle tones of her younger sister, as well as an unfamiliar voice, which was unmistakably male.

Bellatrix grinned with fascinated glee. Well then, perhaps sweet, innocent, little Andromeda, who frowned at her whenever she snuck off anywhere with Rodolphus, was not quite so sweet after all.

She wondered what she should do. Blasting the door off its hinges was still an option, but perhaps it would be better to get the door open quietly, so that she could find out exactly what her sister was doing.

Before she could figure out how to do this, however, a thought struck her which made her feel uneasy. Perhaps she _shouldn't _pry into her sister's secrets.

A week ago, Andromeda had seen her come back home at five in the morning, hooded and covered in a thick black cloak. Her sister wore an expression, not of surprise, but of curiosity, and Bellatrix could tell that this was not the first time Andromeda had seen her coming in or going out in such a furtive manner. Yet her sister had merely given a silent nod and returned to bed without a word. She had never asked where Bellatrix had been or what she had been doing, or even said anything to imply that she had seen her sister that night.

Bellatrix was grateful to her sister for this. Getting involved with the Death Eaters was a lot more difficult than she thought it would be, and if anyone were to suspect her involvement and this got back to them, the Dark Lord would think she could not be trusted and she would lose any chance of ever meeting him.

She doubted Andromeda would approve of where she had been going at night, but her sister had seemed to acknowledge the fact that Bellatrix needed her secrets, her own locked doors, just as it seemed Andromeda needed hers.

Reluctantly, Bellatrix tore herself from the locked door and made her way back along the corridor to her own bedroom. She was sure that she would find nothing too damning in Andromeda's room. Her sister would have of course chosen some nice, polite boy of respectable family, whom their parents would adore and she was probably in there merely boring the poor fellow with talk of Ancient Rune translations, as she had Bellatrix ever since returning home from Hogwarts for the Easter holidays.

It was hardly worth risking all she had worked for so far just to find out something so dull about her sister. Despite all Andromeda's gentle innocence, desire for revenge was something the sisters shared and Bellatrix knew that if she exposed her sister's secret, Andromeda would make damn sure she repaid her in kind.

Besides, she already had more than enough to blackmail Andromeda with, should the opportunity arise.


End file.
